Monday, November 28, 2011

Cooper's Hawk

Today, I heard the guineas sound the alarm.  They make this crazy sound that echoes off the trees.  I hear they make better watch dogs than roosters!  Sure enough, I found half my chickens under a bush in my backyard and the rest nowhere to be found.  I called my chickens, "Chick, chick!"  Nothing.  Usually they come running to me!  I searched the yard and the chicken coop.  Nothing.  I looked in the carport and under the other bush.  Nothing.  Now I was starting to worry.  What happened to the rest of my chickens?  I scanned the trees and saw:
Okaaay...so it's a little hawk.  One third the size of one of my chickens.  It was probably scavenging the scraps that we tossed to the chickens earlier.  What's the big deal?  I did find the rest of the chickens under the turkey house, in a space barely high enough to crawl under.  I went back inside and showed IJ the hawk.

An hour later, I tried to put D down for a nap.  I looked out the window and saw that the hawk was still there!  And the chickens STILL hadn't come out of hiding.  This time I found the camera and got some good shots of it...and came across the still warm body of one of the Americaunas.

I couldn't believe a tiny little hawk could take out a chicken.  But the evidence pointed up.  I brought Pathetic Doberman out to see if she would pick up a scent trail.  Usually, she picks up coyote and raccoon and is gone chasing them.  But this time she ran around in a circle, looked around confusedly, and chased a cat.  A coyote or an eagle would carry their prey off.  A raccoon pulls the head off.  The chicken had a broken neck and the wing bone was exposed.  The hawk stayed on the branch, watching us, until M disposed of the body.  Then it flew off.